Saga of insurance company and destroyed house continues

Leslie Grossman Brown awoke at 4:05 on the morning of Oct. 6, 2006, when a piece of a bedroom wall fell on her head. When she came down the stairs, she found a Mitsubishi Eclipse in the living room.

A pet potbellied pig, Hannahble, was killed when the car plowed through the corner of the house.

The crash destroyed the home on Rowland St. in Ballston Spa.

What followed is a two-year dispute with the State Farm Insurance that still hasn’t ended.

Village police charged Danielle Schrade, 21, with drunken driving. In addition to Grossman Brown’s house, Schrade also took out the front porch of the house next door.

Grossman Brown and her husband, Randy, had plenty of insurance, but since the crash they have been forced to spend thousands of dollars out of their own pockets.

State Farm hasn’t been as helpful as the family expected it to be.

Following the crash, State Farm put the couple and their remaining pets — including two dogs — up in a hotel for a month while the house was inspected. The damage from the car was so severe the house would need to be demolished and rebuilt.

They were told that after the hotel stay, they could find an apartment and State Farm would pay their rent for up to two years.

But after six months, Grossman Brown said, their insurer seemed to lose interest in the case. Their attorney had to repeatedly send letters and additional documentation so the rent money would keep coming. Keep in mind, the couple still had to pay their mortgage even though they couldn’t live in their house.

They became embroiled in a dispute with State Farm over how much it would cost to rebuild their house. State Farm offered them $69,000. But the Browns said all the estimates they received from builders were significantly higher.

The couple had to go to an arbitration hearing and eventually State Farm agreed to pay more money, but legal fees related to that fight almost completely ate up the additional money they received.

The hassles didn’t end there. In the fall of 2008, the old house was ready to be demolished. Two days before the scheduled demolition, all work was halted. State Farm suddenly refused to pay for the demolition work. More intervention from their attorney and negotiations between contractors and lawyers meant they eventually moved forward with the project several days later.

The new house is finished, and it looks beautiful. It’s set back farther from the road, and there are hardwood floors in the living room and granite counter tops in the kitchen. But the couple say State Farm still owes them money.

Leslie Grossman Brown estimates that State Farm still hasn’t paid $20,000 to the builder and another $10,000 for out-of-pocket expenses that the insurer should reimburse.

The contractor, Galarneau Builders, allowed the Browns to move into the house even though they hadn’t been paid in full. At least there was one business in this story that acted with some common sense and compassion.

State Farm refuses to comment on individual claims.

The Browns paid for homeowners insurance that was supposed to protect them in case of a disaster. What they got was an insurance company that fought them every step of the way.

Dan Higgins can be reached at 454-5700 or advocate@timesunion.com. The Advocate appears in print Thursdays and Sundays, and online at http://timesunion.com/advocate.